By Cynthia Mayer, The Philadelphia Inquirer,
Sunday 12 May 1996. Suddenly, college grads can't find
work. Hardest hit are the women. Japan's economy has
been in a six-year slump, and for women college graduates,
work has been especially difficult to find for the last two
years.

From the Forest Peoples Programme, 3 April 1997. In what
could be a landmark case for the Ainu of Japan, on 28 March
1997 a local court in Sapporo, Hokkaido, recognised the Ainu
people as an indigenous and minority people. Japan has been
one among a number of Asian Governments that have denied
that emerging international legal principles which recognise
the rights of indigenous peoples apply to Asia.

Committee for Struggle against Unemployment of Day
Laborers, 27 November 1997. Since the bubble economy was
over, Japan has been depressed, so the number of homeless
people who are obliged to sleep on the streets is
increasing. The policy has been always eviction and
dismissal, not welfare, job or housing.

By Suvendrini Kakuchi, IPS, 11 September 1998. Many people
feel Japan is in an economic rut, locked in recession and
headed for a deflationary cycle. Distressed companies need
more credit but banks are unable to respond, and firms are
hard pressed too because demand is falling and people are
holding on to their savings, forcing companies to cut back
on investments and fire staff.

By Michiko Yamada, Mainichi Shimbun,
Wednesday 14 July 1999. Experts suggest that the average
Japanese face has undergone fundamental changes this century
as the nation metamorphosed from being a basically feudal
society into a modern, industrial state. Computer images
that compare the average face now with that of 100 years
ago.